The goal of Active Living Infrastructure: Controlled Environment (ALICE) is to develop the bio-digital interface capabilities of the Living Architecture (LIAR) project (Grant Agreement no. 851246) and take it towards market from TRL3-4 to TRL5. The actual “ALICE unit” is a 4-chamber bioprocessor component, or “living brick,” that is digitally enabled through bespoke low-power electronics, to connect with online systems and networks. Its focus is to develop an attractive digitally enabled bioprocessor unit that conveys a relatable experience to a general audience with specific focus on the creative industries that are experience-led in terms of their values and preferences and therefore are likely early advocates and adopters. This enables people and microbes to interact and therefore, increases the potential uptake of the technology through its user-friendly design. The successful proof-of-concept ‘living architecture’ ultimately aims to transform our habitats from inert spaces into programmable sites, taking the form of a modular bioreactor-wall, based on the operational principles of microbial fuel cell technology and synthetic ‘consortia’ of microbes. In the LIAR project no specific, relatable interface was developed that enabled a wider uptake community to ‘see’ what was different about the technology compared with more conventional methods of producing energy such as a fossil fuel-based boiler. The aim of ALICE is to introduce and familiarise an uptake audience of sustainably-minded promotors such as architects, designers, engineers, “green” businesses and their clients, to advocate the use of live microbes as processors of waste within our homes and cities.
Owing to the novelty of the technology, ALICE recognises the need for a “sociable” interface for the advance bioreactor technologies to achieve this relatability, especially if its units are to be incorporated within domestic environments. ALICE is a first-generation bio-digital hardware with flexible digital communicability that is capable of delivering a user experience, which translates the activity of microbes into meaningful encounters with human audiences, establishing a trans-species communications platform. Taking the form of an electronic interface powered by microbial fuel cells (MFCs), with digital connectivity, ALICE draws from sensor data, which is translated into a lively, communicable display that is transferrable to a range of social contexts—from art galleries, to schools, exhibition spaces and festivals.
